I'll always wonder how things would have turned out had Hayward not suffered a catastrophic injury five minutes into his Celtic debut.
And it's fair to wonder if Kyrie would have Kyrie'd in the same fashion had Hayward not gotten injured.Not quite Bias level “what if” but definitely up there. Horford, Kyrie, Hayward with the Jay’s being brought on a little slower. Could have been an absolute force…until Kyrie ruined everything, of course.
Ainge did good work here. The last couple of years were more of a reflection of how difficult it really is to build a championship team in the NBA than a reflection on Ainge's abilities.
And the other "what if's" to go along:
- Lakers add 9 wins to their 2017 win total to cause the Celtics pick from the 76'ers to roll over. Luka? Trae Young? No big deal, it's the Kings pick next year.....
- The 2019 Sacramento Kings win the most games they've won in 13 (!) years, and the most since. Ja Morant is perhaps asking for a bit much, but Tyler Herro perhaps? Good thing we have Memphis....
- And, of course, thanks to Morant, the Grizzlies manage to improve to have their pick fall to the ass end of the lottery. So far, that draft looks horrid after the top end, but is Halliburton perhaps better fit than Nesmith? A reach, but LeMelo would have been a nice add.
Luck cuts both ways for a GM.